Starring:
Kogarashi, Kiji, Sarasa, Yoichi
Date: February 17, 2014
Summary:
Yoichi offers a spar to three Genin in the arena for training.
"An Arena Evaluation"
Dammed Arena
Standing in the center of the great arena, Kogarashi has out his blade. He holds it straight out from him, staring at its length as he watches it before he takes a step forward and pushes a hand out with sudden force that sends out a guts of wind that whips up gravel from the ground before he steps through and slices right through the breeze with a declaration. With a fast turn he whips his blade up and a gust of wind slashes upward with a sudden burst of wind that sends yet more dirt up into the air. As the gravel follows, he peers at the area around before moving back into stance again.
Off to the side of the arena, sitting on the ground was a figure with a fair face and long black and blue hair, the blue being braided on either side of the face. At first it might appear female. Kiji has one of the sleeves of his tunic rolled up to the elbow to expose a long cut on his inner arm, though it was not bleeding. It had already scabbed over. He had finished his own routine earlier and was now taking a break with a medical text in his lap. Kogarashi had caught his attention with his flashy wind manipulation. The boy had been watching him with blue eyes ever since, gaze unwavering and somewhat curious…..
The Arena would be a fine place to train. It's not half as crowded as the Pits, where Sara had seen some unwanted company. And there's plenty of water in the arena to work with, around the dam, an in rivulets across the ground. So she walks in with anticipation, but stops when she sees some blockhead has already occupied the area. Sara rubs the back of her neck and sighs. Should she try to share the space or go and look for a new area? And here she was set on using the arena. But he's just swinging a blade-couldn't he do that anywhere? She's about to call out as much when a gust of wind fills the area. "Whoa." Sara is thinking of the next place to go, but she's curious about that technique. "Hey. Who are you?" she asks as she approaches. She looks around and notices Kiji; he even has an audience.
Standing on top of the dam, arms folded over his chest, the wielder of the Kiba blades stands with his eyes closed. His expression is rather stoic, like stone, as he senses the happenings below. Several moments pass with the gathering of the Genin before the Swordsman opens his eyes and glances down at them. "With this many of you gathering here, I suspect more than one of you should be here to train," his deep voice thunders out before he leaps off the dam wall to land gracefully on the floor of the arena. "This is a place for combat, after all… Perhaps I should allow you to test your techniques on a vessel that can take it and can fight back."
The audience he had was ignored for the purposes of training but he was aware of it. He was just about to slash again when he heard the voice of Sarasa and looked over at her. His eyes look her over and his blade goes to his shoulder as he smiles. "Kogarashi." He states and is about to say further as he takes a step in her direction but then Yoichi interrupts him and gives him pause. He glances over at the shinobi and peers at him for a long moment before letting out a breath, "Well." He states, "I guess it beats attacking the air." He nods his head, "Hey." He calls across toward Kiji, "What you say?" He then glances at Sarasa, "And you?"
Kiji's blue eyes shifted toward Sarasa as she entered the scene. Well, /someone/ looked irritated. Though Kiji could not understand why she would be, it's a large arena after all and genin attacks did not take up /that/ much space. He keeps watching though, curious what Koga's reaction to being confronted would be. His eyes brighten then, inching toward excitement as Yoichi suddenly entered the arena with flare. A small smirk slipped over Kiji's face then, for he had never met the man personally but he had certainly heard of him and seen him around the village. One of the Seven…. Kiji stood, but kept to his place for the moment. When Kogarashi calls out to him asking if he'd want in on the 'action' Yoichi offered Kiji chuckles and shakes his head. "If Yoichi-sama wants me to I will." But he had no hope of even landing a hit on the man and even he knew that.
Sarasa says, "My name is Sara," the girl says. Sarasa looks surprised when Yoichi not only shows up but declares he can be their sparring partner. From her expression, she recognizes him, and who wouldn't? He's one of the Seven. All of the shinobi there seem to take up his offer, but Sarasa says nothing."
"My name is Sara," the girl says. "Pleased to meet you. That's quite the technique you have under your belt." Sara looks surprised when Yoichi not only shows up but declares he can be their sparring partner. From her expression, she recognizes him, and who wouldn't? He's one of the Seven. All of the shinobi there seem to take up his offer, but Sara says nothing in reply. She just steps back from the general circle. It's hard to tell whether she's going to leave now that it's more crowded, or stay and join in this. But as soon as Yoichi would start talking with them Sara strikes from his left, to catch the Swordsman off guard with two quickly spinning shuriken aimed not at his leg. "I'll take your offer up too," Sara says brightly, with no hint she thinks the sneak attack is anything less than reasonable.
"Very well," Yoichi says with a nod, uncrossing his arms and glancing around at the Genin. "Prepare yourselves then come at me." He makes no motion to move as Sarasa comes at him, direct hit! With a splash. Her attack passes directly through his leg, which reforms almost effortlessly. "Ruthless sneak attack? Very good. We are Kirigakure. Mercy is generally unnecessary in most combat situations you'd be involved in. Of course, using your brain for potential alliances or greater causes is also a good trait."
There's a tilt of his head as Kiji makes that statement and then he turns his gaze to Sara as she attacks, "Well then." A grin comes across the teen's face as he suddenly races forward toward Yoichi. He watches as the thing passes through the enemy and blinks, "Neat trick." He states and then makes a quick hand seal before thrusting out his left hand. A gust of wind rushes forth, not meant to harm at all, but instead send his opponent off balance as he races in and follows it up with a cut that is aimed across center mass before he reverses motion and angles upward for a second two handed cut that goes acrosst he same path, "I don't normally jump at such opportunities." He chuckles.
Kiji stayed back, watching Sarasa immediately throw kunai at Yoichi… Which of course did little. Kiji did have to admit that Yoichi's defense was impressive. Turning to water was certainly a good way to avoid damage. His blue eyes went into a violet as he watched the display, his curiosity peaking evenmore toward the swordsman. But He was not idle either… He gathered his chakra around him, but remained in the back of the pack so to speak…. He reached out with his senses, feeling faintly about him.. the wavering chakras of the other genin and the supernova that was Yoichi.. That was all he had to know….He would hang back and allow the other two to attack as he prepared himself….
Attacks continue to pass through Yoichi, his eyes merely studying each incoming attack as he lets them hit and go through. "Not bad," he says with a glance down at Kogarashi. "Your combinations could use some work. You could also learn to combine wind with your normal attacks to make them a bit more potent." Seems they'll be getting a dual training session in this spar.
Sara almost cheers when her attacks hits the Swordsman solidly, and likewise almost groans when they seem to do no damage. Technically, she could say that she managed to land a blow on one of the Seven. But she does smile a bit when he praises her sneak attack. She thought it was a good plan too — and the most likely one to succeed, unfortunately. All this passes through her mind in a second while Kogarashi launches his own attacks. Kiji seems reluctant to attack or maybe he's just biding his time. If ranged attacks don't work — Sara dives in to aim a volley of punches at the man and end with a hard kick straight to his gut. "Crazy body you have," she says, with a bit of frustration.
Attacks continue to pass through Yoichi, his eyes merely studying each incoming attack as he lets them hit and go through. "Not bad," he says with a glance down at Kogarashi. "Your combinations could use some work. You could also learn to combine wind with your normal attacks to make them a bit more potent." Seems they'll be getting a dual training session in this spar. He then glances back to Sara, giving a nod. "More sneak attacks. Using direct fire from a teammate as a cover to sneak up behind an opponent is good… assuming they don't have chakra senses like I do."
Stepping back from his opponent, Kogarashi peers at him before tilting his head. He then listens to explanations even as he focuses on gaining up some chakra. He peers at Yoichi, tilting his head as he starts walking to the side as Sarasa attacks. He holds his blade out before him, prepared as he moves and seeming to study the opponent, "I see." He hmms and nods.
Kiji had continued to remain behind the other two, watching Yoichi simply turn to water with each attack… Perfect. His eyes, once blue, are now orange, having gathered enough chakra to engage an adrenaline reaction in his body. But his mind was calm and as Sarasa attacked Yoichi with her fists, sending little splashes ths way and that, Kiji fists his right hand and slams his sharp ring into his left arm even as he runs forward behind Sara. He cuts a long line parallel to the already healing mark on his wrist, allowing blood to pour forth. But it does not fall to the ground.. rather it forms a kind of mist, hovering over the wound. Comming in just behind Sara, Kiji sidesteps at the last moment and whips his arm toward Yoichi. Specificly at the water he was using to defend against Sara with.Instantly the mist forms into a mass of crimson needles, blood senbon, and launch.
Sara has to smile at Yoichi's words. "Thanks," she says. It's not bad advice. Sara doesn't seem surprised that all her attacks are being harmlessly absorbed. When Kiji attacks however Sara doesn't move back to avoid it. And fortunately, her "partner" sidestepped her. She doesn't even pull back from the last kick Yoichi absorbed because while senbon and needles are being aimed at him Sara's leg turns into liquid. It forms instantly into a razor sharp blade of water she'd whip around with a kick meant to slice Yoichi in half from the waist up. Maybe if she takes him down she can have his sword! Or if she actually wounds him, she could nudge her family for a nice dinner.
Yoichi's eyes cut toward Kiji as his attacks go through, smirking slightly. "Impressive," he says with a nod of approval, apparently intrigued by a tactic the boy uses, though it may not be obvious to anyone else. Sara's blade passes through as well, gaining a glance from the Swordsman as his own arm turns into what appears to be a ball of metal as he literally just swings it back at the girl's stomach in a firm backhand. Seems he's started hitting back.
Watching the attacks, Kogarashi watches the tide of battle turn as suddenly Yoichi is attacking back. He rushes forward suddenly in an attempt to interrupt the attack on Sarasa but he is only going to be able to watch it happen. None the less, he attempts to abuse that moment by doing a quick seal and ducking low and to the side. He sends a blast of wind directly into Yoichi at close range before whipping his blade around into the water like Ninja before he slips his blade down to attempt to drive the tip into Yoichi's leg and then keep going by.
Kiji saw the blood land in the water and nodded. but the second Yoichi reformed his fist the boy leaped back. If Yoichi had landed a hit on Sara with that, Kiji would have been hit as well.. Besides, his goal had been reached. H kept a variable distance between Yoichi and himself, chuckling softly as Kogarashi manages to lay down a distraction for him. His hands flash through several seals before he looks up, his eyes bright orange. He was attempting to manipulate the blood he'd gotten into Yoichi's system though it would be watered down a bit and thus the attack would be lessened in strength, he still might be able to land a hit… The second Yoichi re-solidifies from defending against Kogarashi he strikes. Turning his own blood inside of Yoichi into needles…. He tried to time it so his attacks would hit at the same time that Yoichi solidified, hoping there was a window of time between the defenses…. Not to mention the supposed suprise…
It seems Sara overstayed her welcome. Her hands come up to form the seals for a defense — seems she doesn't have the amazing resiliency Yoichi does — and she gets knocked back a ways, landing on her back hard. But a moment later she's sitting up, bruised but alive. No broken bones or serious injuries from the lack of agony on her face, though she is wincing like she has a nasty headache. The girl rubs her head. "Oww," she says, getting to her feet, and holding her stomach where she'd been thumped. "Where..?" She looks over the three males as if seeing them for the first time. "Don't tell me…no, this is just a spar, right?" she says. Not a real fight. Just in case, she starts gathering chakra.
Splash after splash after splash. Yoichi's eyes study the motions of the Genin as they attack him, particularly eyeing Kiji at his precise timing. Were it not for the immense constitution of the Swordsman, that would've wrecked his insides. It'd really do a number on someone like Sarasa. Since it is him, however, the needles first are merely caught inside him before being expelled by his body dematerializing and reforming around them. "Very nice," he says with a nod at Kiji as he swings the ball in a backhand at the passing Kogarashi. "Yes, this is just a spar. If I were going to hurt you all, I'd use something past the rudimentary things I'm using against you."
The attack by the swordsman is accompanied by the sound of cracking ribs. He swung upward in its path, creating a wall of wind that blows upward into the attack only for it to pass right through the wall of wind and sending Kogarashi flying backwards and into the ground to bounce three times nad cough as he lands, shuddering and coughing more as he stares forward and slumps to the ground for a moment, catching himself on a hand and knee. He then looks up and looks at the other two before hmming, "Prepare!" He calls to Kiji and then creates several seals and fires off a trio of those bursts of wind, attempting to throw Yoichi off balance, "Take him!"
Kiji frowned asYoichi didn't react to his attacks, only seeing the blood expelled after a moment. Che. Figured. But the compliment gets a smile from the boy and he didn't take his failure too hard. This /was/ Yoichi-sama they were up against. He frowned, hwoever as Sarasa came up from her landing holding her head. He flashes his hands palm outwards toward Yoichi and heads to her side immediately, crouching down beside her. "If Yoichi-sama wantedus hurt or dead we would be already Sarasa-chan. Don't move too fast. Did you hit your head? How many fingers am I holding up?" He holds up three fingers before the girl's face… And then he hears Kogarashi's ribs snap and he winces. "Stay here." He's up and moving toward Kogarashi even as the other boy calls out to him to prepare. How stupid.. fighting with broken ribs in a /spar/?
But Kiji paused halfway between the two other genin and glanced at Yoichi. He was the last one, the only one who had not been attacked by the swordsmen…. He spun backwards and flung both hands out, pulling a large amount of blood from his wrist and sending the blood rain to fall on Yoishi, aiming for his chest with the first attacka nd his legs with the second, perhaps he could make the man take a knee….
Sarasa looks to Kiji in confusion as he speaks to her. Seems this is a spar, and that they're three against one. She supposes this isn't the time or place to give herself away. She looks at the three fingers he holds up and then rolls her eyes. "Thirty," she says. "I'm just fine." She gives him a bright smile. Though she's not smiling too much at Broken Ribs. Is this really a spar? She'd better do something. From the look of it, Yoichi hasn't even been budged so to speak. So she goes back into the front, her arm turning into not a blade or a hammer, but something that could be compared to a giant fly-swatter (more like a person swatter) aimed to knock him down and then smash him into a water puddle. "I need to learn how to do that," she says, a bit enviously.
With the rain of attacks, Yoichi's form would look something like a splattered image painting that is somehow continuously in motion. "You will eventually," he comments to Sarasa as he folds his arms over his chest. "If you all are getting tired, you may cease at any time. I've got information for the scrolls I'm going to give you later for things for you to work on." Of course, that could just be a test to see who gives up first.
Watching as the wind simply breaks th e water apart but doesn't have an effect, he ponders how you fight an opponent who is essentially made of water. He stands up slowly and winces as he spits out some blood and then looks down at it. He then nods to himself as he looks at his hands, "Alright…" He states softly and then nods, "I see." He then looks over at the others, "If you ask me, I think this is becoming pointless fast." He then sheathes his blade and then shakes his head, "I think I can feel my bones asking me to stop…literaly." He then looks up at Yoichi and then licks his lips, "We'll see about a rematch sometime." He nods again before taking a step and wincing, "As for me…I'm heading to the hospital."
Kiji had figured the attacks wouldn't land very well, but when Yoichi seems to taunt him he forms several hand seals then launches himself forward, throwing a punch with his bleeding arm. Assuming Yoichi would continue his defense with the water, this would allow Kiji to get a larger amount of blood into the swordsman. Should he succeed in getting Yoichi to use his water transformation again, he would unload a large amount of blood directly inside the man before pulling his arm back and trying …one…more…time.. to hit him internally….. His eyes are still calm, calculating, watchful….though there's a smile ont he boy's face as he attacks..
Sarasa considers what could possibly damage Yoichi's watery form. They'd tried blades, kunai, senbon, fists, feet, swatters, and any number of things. What can harm that man? Hey…that's it! No…that's just mean. And still probably wouldn't work. One of her partners walks off to go to the hospital. The other seems to be sticking to the spar, so she has more than one choice. In the end, she chooses to help out her wounded friend. "Bye and good luck!" she says to her remaining partner, before heading out of sight. And she would walk with Kogarashi till they reached the diverging paths in the arena. Then, she'd give him a pat on the back, and make her way up silently up the arena stairs, past the rows of seats, and THEN launch a sneak attack on Yoichi. Which is a tiny senbon aimed at his back. Hehehehe.
"If you want to become strong, you have to fight and train yourself against someone stronger than yourself," Yoichi points out with a glance to Kogarashi. "If you're striving to hit me instead of someone at or lower than your own level, you'll progress much more quickly," he says as he swings the ball at Kiji's chest, intending to overpower his attack and send him spiraling backward as he sidesteps out of the way of the other incoming attacks. "More dastardly sneak attacks… Not bad."
Looking back at Yoichi, "And if I keep taking hits from you from that ball you have at the end of your fist…I wont' live long enough to hit anyone ever again." He points and then nods his head before looking at Sara as she walks off and then starts off, "Sorry but…right now, I feel that one of my ribs feels it is better situated in a lung." He coughs again, blood spitting out, "And my time is better spent getting it removed from that spot." And now he is off.
Kiji saw instantly he was next in line for the hydro attack that Yoichi had used against the others. That was the whole point of continueing to attack the swordsman, after all. He had decided when Yoichi had taunted them that he would see how far Yoichi would let him get before retaliating. He also wanted to keep on even footing with his fellow genin. All these factors and more had combined to keep him int he spar even while the other two wandered off. Either way, when the attack had finally come, Kiji had been too close to defend properly. He was only half way through his clone attack when the attack came through, sending him to the ground, his slight body rolling, hair flying around him. He comes to his feet automatically at the end, one arm slung across his chest. Yes, ribs were brokena nd cracked. Yes there was blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. But the boy faced Yoichi head on, showing him defiance and no fear, his orange eyes were deeper now, more an amber tone like a good burbon as the boy was so serious. He showed defiance, yes, he showed a fighting spirit, yes. But then he lowered his eyes and dropped to one knee in an act of formal submission to Yoichi's strength and position. He'd shown the warrior what he /could/ be in battle and that was enough.
Sarasa breathes a sigh of relief when Yoichi speaks to her. Because she was sure hoping he wouldn't take that one the wrong way. Though it would've been worth it if she could hit him. >_> Maybe. Sarasa is learning quite a few things about how to beat Yoichi's technique. If she were that much stronger, that is. He doesn't seem to be breaking a sweat despite using that defense repeatedly, which means he has more chakra than a monster or he can use it with almost no effort or both. She scratches her head, but winces when Kiji gets knocked solidly backwards. She touches her ribs, but though it hurts they don't seem to be broken. Maybe her body is a bit resilient too? Well, that's the next technique she needs to learn. She makes her way back down, and bows to Yoichi. A very graceful bow actually. "Yoichi-sama," she says with her head down. "Please teach me that technique!"
"You've all done well," Yoichi says with a nod to each of the Genin. Kiji is given a long look of pondering, the Swordsman perhaps thinking on the boy's potential before looking over to his clanmate. "In due time. You'll need to learn the lower versions of it first, but you'll eventually master it. We'll do some training in Hydrification once you've recovered a bit." And, with crackle of lightning, the Swordsman would vanish, his duty here done for now.
